Archer&#39;s bow



Jan. 12, 1954 w. L. GASKELL ARCHER S BOW Filed Nov. 12, 1949 INVENTOR.14 412 9! 'asle/Z.

BY M, 24; 7%?

WI/171a W/Al/l/IZ Patented Jan. 12, 1954 U N ITED STATES PAT ENT OFFICE.

ARGHERS BOW Walter L. Gaskell, Ypsilanti, Mich. Application November 12,1949; Serial No. 12 ,82

This. invention relates to archery bows and its principal objects are toimprove the sighting characteristics and increase the. accuracy of suchbows. i

In ordinary archery bows, thearrows are. supported on the side of thebow and thus. a plane which is spaced laterall from the plane defined bythe bowstring as the latter moves from taut to released position. Alateral component. of force: is therefore imparted to the arrow whichmay cause it to bend or to drift. This component also representszlostenergy so far. as distance is concerned. Sighting is done along the:arrow so that. the line. of. sight is. also displaced from the plane ofaction of thebowstring; Both cfiset setting of the arrow and oifsetsighting are departures. from an optimum. construction, wherein thearrow is set in the. plane of force applied by the howstring and.sighting is. done also in this plane, so that considerable skillz isrequired to do accurate shooting with the ordinary archers bow.

In an effort to improve the-accuracy of archery hows it. has beenproposed heretofore to set the arrow in the plane of the bowstring; Thishas been accomplished by providing either anarrowreceiving aperture inthe center of. the bow, or an arrowu'eceiving notch which opens into theside the bow and extends across the center of. the how. The principaldifficulty with both these methods is that they weaken the bow andtherefore require compensatory design features which often lead to suchcomplications as: to nullify the beneficial effects obtained.Furthermore, they leave considerable bow material in the actual plane ofvision of. the archer which 'tendsto obscure the complete target and tothat extent, at least, to have an adverse effect upon sighting.

The bow of the present invention permits set-- of the arrow and sightingin the plane of the bow string, but is not subject to the objections setforth above. In. the present bow, a substantial portion of preferablyboth the limbs does not lie in the plane of the bowstring but islaterally ofiset thereupon by an amount sufficient to accommodate anarrow rest, and for a longitudinal distance which is sufficient to allowa target to be observed with both eyes. Since the bow is not in anyrespect cut away or apertured to make room for the arrow, it is notweakened and nor mal limb shapes can be employed. It is thereforepossible to use cross sections of maximum eficiency and optimumcharacteristics, and to have a lightweight bow.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

6 Claims. (01. 124-24) 2 Figure 1 is a rear elevation of the improvedbow; i

Fig, 2 is an enlarged VlGW of a centralportiorr of amodified form ofthebow; and

Figs. 3 and 4 are slightly enlargedsectional views throughthe limbsocket and handle: of the form of bow shown in Fig. 2 withthe wedgeblocks shown in Fig. 4. v

Figure 1 illustrates a single piece bow embodying features of theinvention. The bow I. is made from suitable metal, such asanaluminmnalloy; and has limb porticns fl and 51 that are provided at.their extremities withi bowstringereceiving catches (not shown) andgrooves '1 that define the plane in which the bowstring: 9' n'iovesa asthe bow is stressedand unstressed. The limb portions 3- and. 5: areinclined. outwardly; and away from the planeof the bow string, but areintegrally joined. at. elbow portions II and lit, in; a central. part ofthe bow,.by the: handle section 15. which intersects. the plane of. thebow string. The inclined portions or the limbs 3 and 5 are preferablystraight and of. varying cross-sectionalarea, as is conventional inbowconstruction. and may be of. any desired cross-sectional shape. It isevident that the offset areas. I1. and it between the. limbs 3: and 5:and. opposite sides of the plane of the bow string: 9 extend asubstantial longitu dinal distance and greatly facilitates sighting of.

a. target.

The arrow A is supported upon. a pair of: arrow rests2 i and 23,whichaare preferably of tlrepin point type to minimize friction. Thearrow rest 21 is mounted in a collar 25 that is securedto the bow in asuitable manner; as by brazing or by a setscrew .27. which permitscollar adjustment. The. other arrow rest 23. is securecl to handlefitting 29 that is suitably attached to the inclined handle section. 15,as by brazing or adjustment screws 3 l. The collar 25 and handle 25B arepreferablpositioned. and arrangedso that the arrow A is supported in aposition opposite the elbow i i, which is a point ofmaximum opening ofthe offset [1, thus leaving ample room for the teathers to pass bywithout striking the how. it is to be noted that the axis of the. arrowA lies in the plane of the bow string, and that this conditionmay bemaintained withvarious diameter arrows by threadably mounting thearrowrests in the collar 25 andihandle 29: so that they may be radially movedwith respect to the arrow,. or by shift-.- ing the positions of thecollar 25 and: handle 28 throughthe medium. of adjustment screws. 21'and 31.

The invention may also be embodied in the multi-piece type of bow, whichmay be taken down to facilitate transportation and storage. Such a bowis illustrated in Fig. 2, and it may be assumed that the limbs 3 and arethe same as limbs 3 and 5 of the integral bow of Fig. l. The limbs 3'and 5 lit in sockets 4| and that are provided in the ends of a handle 41that includes an inclined hand grip portion 49 that is shaped to fit thearchers hand. The handle 41 is preferably formed from a suitable metal,such as aluminum alloy, and it is evident that the limbs 3' and 5' maybe formed of any suitable material such as wood, glass, etc. The sockets4| and 45 are offset from the plane of the bow string 9 and located sothat the limbs 3' and 5' incline inwardly, as in Fig. 1. The limbs areheld in the sockets by tapered pins 5| that pass through registeringapertures in the limbs and the handles.

In the event that the offset of the top end of the handle 4! is notsufiicient to provide thoroughly satisfactory sighting and permit freepassage of the arrow feathers, the side of the handle 47 may berecessed, as shown at 53. The pinpoint arrow rests 2| and 23 areadjustably threaded into suitable bosses in the recess to support thearrow A in the plane of the bow string.

It will be noted that the center of symmetry of the bow of Fig. 2 issubstantially at the point at which the resultant reaction force isapplied to the hand grip 49 by the archer, and it is apparent that thebow of Fig. 1 could be readily constructed to provide for this feature,if desired.

As indicated above, the principal incentive behind the presentdevelopment in archers bows was a desire to improve sighting andaccuracy. With the old type of how, considerable limb material wasplaced above or directly to the right of the arrow so that when thearchers head was turned to look down the arrow, prior to shooting, theright eye observed little more than a limb. Consequently, in the oldhows, the sighting was done really with just one eye, that eye being theleft eye for right-handed archers. It will be appreciated that thisnegatives the very purpose for which human beings and animals have twoeyes. When only one eye is used, the mechanism of parallax cannot beemployed to determine the distance of the archer from the target. Withthe present bow, the limb is offset so that there is nothing in the lineof sight of the right eye, and both eyes can be used in aiming the arrowat the target.

The particular offset limb construction of the present invention alsoendows the bow with several other advantages of note. In thisconnection, an important feature is that the axis of the arrow can beplaced on the axis of the bow. Thus it is not necessary for the arrow tobend itself around the bow when it is released from the bow string.Consequently, the delicate operations of splining are eliminated and anytype of arrow can be employed with the present bow. As is well known,feathers on the arrows serve to straighten out the path of flight of thearrow, which has a tendency to be somewhat snaky when shot from priorbows due to the fact that the arrow had been forced to bend around thebow. In the present bow the length of the feathers can be reducedconsiderably, due to the fact that the tendency to fishtail or snake isnot present. Another advantage resulting from the fact that the arrowcan be laid on the axis of the bow is that the energy which waspreviously needed to bend the arrow around the bow can now be used togive distance to the flight of the arrow with the result that thepresent bow shoots farther than the older type bows. Furthermore, thearrow is supported on needle points so that there is scarcely anyfriction between the arrow and the bow. Consequently, the energy lostdue to friction is reduced appreciably. It has been noted that, perhapsas a result of these decreases in energy loss, the trajectory of thearrows shot by the present bow is much flatter than that of those shotby older type bows of equal weight.

The offset limb construction also provides another novel feature. Thisis a third type of movement in addition to longitudinal and lateraldeflection of the bow. This movement is a twisting or torsion of the bowlimbs about a nodal point located in an intermediate part of the how.This twist or torsion of the bow seems to give an added snap to thearrow just prior to release, which is particularly beneficial inobtaining distance and good flight characteristics.

The bow of Fig. 2 may be also provided with another feature of practicalimportance, by virtue of which it is possible to vary the effectivelength of the limbs 3 and 5', and thus the strength or pull of the bow.This is accomplished by tapering the outer portion of the limb socket,as illustrated at 6| in Figs. 3 and 4, in connection with socket 4|.When the limb is supported in this socket, it bends or cantilevers aboutthe junction 63 between the tapered portion BI and the straight portion65 that fits the root of the limb. However, by slipping a wedge block 61over the end of the limb 3' and securing it to the limb by screw 69 sothat it fits against the walls of the tapered portion 6|, the plane ofzero-bending is raised to the end of the socket, as shown in Fig. 4.This decreases the eifective length of the limb 3' and thus increasesthe pull required to draw back the bow string a given amount.

Modifications may obviously be made in the specific construction hereinillustrated and described without departing from the spirit of theinvention. 7

What is claimed is:

1. An archers bow having limbs with tips adapted to receive a bowstring, said bow having an arrow rest portion between said limbs andaligned with said tips in the bow string plane, the portions of saidlimbs adjacent the arrow rest portion of the bow of both of said limbsbeing bodily offset from the plane of the bow string on opposite sidesthereof, so that said limbs are twisted as well as bent when stressed toshoot an arrow and enable an arrow to be set in said plane and alsoprovide unobstructed sighting along the arrow.

2. An archers bow comprising a hand grip having arrow rests extendingoutwardly therefrom and also limb sockets laterally offset on oppositesides of the rests, and limbs secured in said sockets, said limbs beinginclined back from the sockets into the plane of an arrow supported onthe rests and being there adapted to receive and support a bow string inthe plane of an arrow supported on the rests,

3. An archers bow comprising a pair of limbs integrally joined at theirinner ends by an inclined portion, said limbs having outer ends toreceive a bow string, said inclined portion extending across the planeof a bow string supported by said outer ends and the inner ends of thelimbs being bodily offset from said plane on opposite sides thereof toprovide unobstructed sighting along an arrow, said bow including anarrow rest portion aligned with said outer ends in said plane.

4. An archery bow handle comprising a member having a hand grip portion,arrow rests on an intermediate part of the member, and portions onopposite ends of the hand grip portion provided with limb-receivingsockets that lie on axes that are on opposite sides and inclined back tointersect the plane of an arrow supported on'said rests, whereby limbssupported on the handles are bodily ofiset on opposite sides of thearrow rests and permit sighting along the arrow and unobstructed travelof the arrow past the bow.

5. In an archery bow, a member having a hand grip portion, arrow restmeans on an intermediate part of the member, portions on opposite endsof the hand grip portion being provided with walls defininglimb-receiving socketsj that lie on axes that are on opposite sides ofthe: arrow rest means, limbs mounted in said sockets and inclined backtoward the arrow rest means; said limbs having string receiving tipslying in a'plane through the arrow rest means, said sockets'having theoutermost portions that lie in the plane of deflection of the limbstapered so that'these portions are larger than the limbs to be receivedtherein and the limbs bear against only the walls of the inner portionsof the sockets, and wedge elements fitted in the tapered portions andhearing against the walls thereof and against the limbs to thereby varythe effective length of the limbs.

6. In an archers bow, a handle portion, an arrow rest portion adjacentthe handle portion and adapted to support an arrow along a predeterminedaxis, substantially straight limbs located on opposite transverse sidesof said portions, said limbs extending outwardly in oppositelongitudinal directions from said portions and being provided with bowstring receiving tips aligned with each other in the plane of said axis.

WALTER L. GASKELL.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

